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Simon Lester

Simon Lester

Co-founder of WorldTradeLaw.net and China Trade Monitor. Non-resident fellow at the Baker Institute.

http://simonlester.com

Location Incentives for Film-Making

Reader Pietro Poretti points me to this article indicating that subsidies and other incentives for movie production are alive and well: The Hobbit will be made in New Zealand, Prime Minister John Key has announced. He said at a press conference this evening that new labour laws would be introduced

Brazil's Proposal on Currency Undervaluation Issues

From Reuters: Brazil's Finance Minister Guido Mantega will propose at the Group of 20 nations meeting next month that the International Monetary Fund create an index measuring currency manipulation, local media reported on Thursday. The idea is to identify who is keeping their currency artificially low to boost

Trade in Everything: Lethal Injection Drugs

From the AP: Facing a nationwide shortage of a lethal injection drug, Arizona has taken an unusual step that other death penalty states may soon follow: get their supplies from another country. Such a move, experts say, raises questions about the effectiveness of the drug. But it also may further

A Non Liquet Example

A little while ago, I posted about Claude Barfield's suggestion on using "non liquet" in WTO dispute settlement: where the texts are unclear or contradictory, panels and the AB should be allowed or even instructed to adopt the non liquet doctrine—or in effect, “it is

The Ukraine-Armenia Cigarettes and Alcohol Dispute

I had been trying to do some posts on the Ukraine-Armenia WTO dispute over taxes and duties on cigarettes and alcohol (DS411), because I figured it would not get reported on much in the mainstream media. But perhaps I better stop trying to do this kind of reporting, given

The EU Tries to Co-opt Some Americans on GIs

From Reuters: A gourmet coffee from the island of Hawaii won an European prize for top quality foods on Saturday as part of Europe's efforts to bolster the global use of prestigious place names like Champagne, Parma or Roquefort. The European Union is in a long-running dispute

International Law as "Conceptual Guidance"

As most of this blog's readers are aware, there is an ongoing debate about the role of international law in WTO dispute settlement. Perhaps adding to that discussion, this is from yesterday's WTO panel report in U.S. - AD/CVD on Products from China (DS379): 8.

Concurrent AD/CVD in the WTO Panel on U.S. - AD/CVD on Products from China

In November of last year, I said this about the issue of concurrent anti-dumping/countervailing duties: GATT Article VI:5 provides: "No product of the territory of any Member imported into the territory of any other Member shall be subject to both anti-dumping and countervailing duties to

Zeroing and Prospective Normal Value Systems

This is from the U.S. opening statement at the second panel meeting in U.S. - AD Measures on Orange Juice (DS382): Brazil’s Arguments Are Inconsistent with Both the Concept of, and Its Own Application of, a Prospective Normal Value System 13. The United States has demonstrated that the

Zeroing and the Role of WTO Precedent

One of the interesting things about the zeroing cases (some might say more interesting than the issue of zeroing itself) is how the existence of many, many prior panel/Appellate Body reports addressing zeroing leads to discussions of the role of precedent in WTO law. This is from the U.